She gently swatted in its direction, and it flew away. “My bees are generally harmless unless you get close to the hive. They’re just foraging for food at this point, getting ready for winter. Looks like one got trapped in here, bless his heart.”

“Your bees?” I asked.

“I have a hive out back, in the woods there.” Alice pointed out past her yard, toward the lake. “You can’t see it. It’s tucked right behind my fence. It’s a hobby. You know they’re in trouble? Going extinct. But seriously, don’t be scared. There’s a fence around the hive. They’re really quite peaceful creatures.”

“Plus they make delicious honey,” Kendra said. “Alice gives it as Christmas presents.”

I made a mental note to bring my EpiPen whenever I walked the lake path in the future.

Kendra dug farther into the shed, clearing out decorations from a wall shelf. “Theresa, didn’t you say you were doing a graveyard?” she said. “We’ve got these gravestones. Lily would love more, wouldn’t she?”

“I’m sure she would,” I said. “But I don’t want to take anyone’s decorations.”

“It’s no bother,” Alice said. “That stuff on the back shelf there doesn’t belong to anyone anymore.”

There were five of them, until they ran her out of town. I watched as Kendra and Alice stacked and restacked the decorations, wondering if what Maggie Lewis had said was true. My neighbors seemed so nice, so polished. They’d been generous. Welcoming. Friendly. Fun. I couldn’t really imagine it, or didn’t want to.

So why was that gossip bothering me?

“Is this left over from the friend of yours?” I asked, then inwardly winced. Way to be subtle, Theresa Ann.

“Probably,” Alice said. She held up a zombie mask and grimaced at it, tossing it in the pile. “I honestly can’t keep track anymore.”

“Oh I forgot about these,” Kendra said, pulling out what appeared to be a pair of skeleton gloves.

“What did she do again?” I asked as I hauled a dusty box from the corner. Several crickets skittered away into the shadows. “I mean, for a job?” The Ivies had implied that’s why their friend had left, but at the bake sale, Beth and Maggie had insisted she didn’t work.

Silence. I looked up. Alice was staring at me. “Why?” she asked, and it wasn’t in her usual tone.

I felt my face flush. I sounded like a weird jealous girlfriend, paranoid about an ex.

Kendra spoke up. “She was in theater. Went to New York City.” She glanced at Alice. “To be honest, she wasn’t very good. We didn’t want to say anything mean about her, but...well, let’s just say you’re a way better addition to the neighborhood.”

“If that ain’t the truth,” Alice said. They both flashed warm smiles my way.